History Chapter 20

6. What event turned public opinion against the Homestead strikers in 1892?

Alexander Berkman, an anarchist, hoped to ignite a general workers' uprising by assassinating Henry Clay Frick. Frick survived the attempt on his life, however, and though the unions denounced Berkman's actions, the assassination attempt linked anarchism and unionism in the public mind and effectively destroyed the strike. (See section "The Labor Wars" in your textbook.)

5. Who supported the striking workers in the Cripple Creek, Colorado, miners' strike of 1894?

Although the country sheriff was under the sway of the mine owners, the state's Populist governor, Davis H. Waite, supported the miners. Waite refused to send in state troops to disperse peaceful strikers and eventually acted as arbitrator at the strikers' request. (See section "The Labor Wars" in your textbook.)

17. In the 1890s, American foreign policy was defined by

Americans in the 1890s were interested in avoiding entanglement in European politics. At the same time, they were committed to expanding the nation's influence, in some instances by taking over new territory, and in others by expanding commercial and religious spheres of influence. (See section "The United States and the World" in your textbook.)

19. U.S. foreign policy in the 1890s showed the nation's desire to

Americans used the Monroe Doctrine to protect their own influence over Latin America and the Caribbean and pursued the Open Door Policy to ensure that no European nation gained hegemony over Asia. (See section "The United States and the World" in your textbook.)

13. When the depression of 1893 put nearly half the nation's labor force out of work, what entities provided food and shelter to the unemployed?

Charity services in the 1890s were provided by private institutions, city government, and some of the stronger trade unions. Most elected officials subscribed to the teachings of social Darwinism and laissez-faire and thus believed that government intervention in the problems of private individuals was inappropriate. (See section "Depression Politics" in your textbook.)

14. What did Jacob Coxey and his marchers propose that the government do to end unemployment in the spring of 1894?

Coxey, a millionaire from Massilon, Ohio, believed that the problem of unemployment could be solved by the government hiring the jobless to build much-needed roads. He proposed that non-interest-bearing bonds finance these public works. (See section "Depression Politics" in your textbook.)

9. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) demonstrated that American women in the late nineteenth century were

In 1881, Frances Willard, the new president of the WCTU, urged members to "do everything." She involved the WCTU in issues only tangentially related to alcohol abuse and temperance, including the working conditions of female factory workers and the hiring of female police officers. (See section "Women's Activism" in your textbook.)

1. What factor explained the hard times many American farmers were facing by the 1890s?

In the 1890s, discontented farmers believed that their interests were being harmed by a number of different factors including banks' commitment to the gold standard, which was good for creditors but not debtors. Farmers also blamed their difficulties on railroad rates that were higher for short hauls than for long ones and high land prices that resulted from rampant speculation. (See section "The Farmers' Revolt" in your textbook.)

20. What American sentiment led directly to the Spanish-American War of 1898?

Initially, pressure for American intervention was spurred by Spain's brutal treatment of Cuban revolutionaries, who started to fight against Spanish control in 1895. Hoping to isolate the revolutionaries, Spanish general Valeriano Weyler gathered Cubans in concentration camps, where many died of hunger, disease, and exposure. By 1898, about a quarter of Cuba's population had died in the revolution. (See section "The United States and the World" in your textbook.)

3. For what reasons did the Farmers' Alliance proceed in the direction of forming a third party in the late nineteenth century?

Initially, the Alliance tried pressuring political candidates to endorse measures that it believed would benefit farmers. When politicians proved more willing to make promises than to enact legislation, Alliance leaders began to consider forming a third political party rather than relying on the existing parties. (See section "The Farmers' Revolt" in your textbook.)

15. What occurrence exacerbated middle-class fears of mass demonstrations like that of "Coxey's army" in 1894?

Middle-class Americans were terrified of insurrection and rebellion throughout 1894. Their fears were in no way calmed by newspapers that referred to the marchers as "armies" and their own reporters as "war correspondents." This kind of writing heightened Americans' sense that the nation was in peril. (See section "Depression Politics" in your textbook.)

16. Who were the biggest losers in the presidential election of 1896?

Nationally, the People's Party drew fewer than 300,000 votes in 1896, a million less than two years earlier. Populists in the South had drifted back into the Democratic fold, and the People's Party—along with the agrarian revolt—was crushed. (See section "Depression Politics" in your textbook.)

8. Which occurrence finally ended the 1893 Pullman strike?

The Chicago injunction made the strike a crime punishable by a jail sentence for contempt of court, a civil process that did not require a jury trial. The injunction was the basis for Eugene V. Debs's arrest and imprisonment and the harassment of union members, and it served to demoralize the strikers and end the strike. (See section "The Labor Wars" in your textbook.)

10. From its inception in 1874, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union claimed to speak for whom?

The WCTU was composed entirely of women and believed that all women shared the same basic interests. Emphasizing gender solidarity, members, although mostly middle class and white, assumed they spoke for their entire sex. (See section "Women's Activism" in your textbook.)

2. How did the Farmers' Alliance movement of the late nineteenth century initially propose solving farmers' economic problems?

The alliances originally hoped to form farmers' cooperatives, which would allow farmers to sell their crops jointly and negotiate a better price. Trade stores and exchanges would complement the system by freeing farmers from the high prices of merchant/creditors. However, opposition from merchants, bankers, wholesalers, and manufacturers made it impossible for the cooperatives to obtain credit. (See section "The Farmers' Revolt" in your textbook.)

4. How did many conservative Americans react to the Populists' proposal to establish a subtreasury system in the late nineteenth century?

The subtreasury system would have allowed farmers to store nonperishable crops in government storehouses until prices were favorable. It also would have given farmers access to government credit with which to buy supplies and seed for the coming season. Conservatives felt that the proposal was nothing more than "corn tassel communism." (See section "The Farmers' Revolt" in your textbook.)

12. Frances Willard exploited the cult of domesticity as a political tactic, arguing that women needed the vote to protect what?

Turning to her advantage the nineteenth-century ideal that women's proper sphere was the home, Willard argued that woman suffrage was necessary for women to protect their homes and families. Her call for "home protection" was a shrewd political tactic to move women into public life and gain power to address social problems. (See section "Women's Activism" in your textbook.)

18. Throughout the 1890s, American foreign policy was successful in

U.S. foreign policy in the late nineteenth century, although inconsistent, succeeded in furthering American commercial interests. In fact, American foreign policy often seemed little more than a sidelight to business development. For example, after American sugar interests incited a rebellion in Hawaii in 1893 that dethroned the Hawaiian queen, they pushed Congress to annex the islands so that they would be exempt from the tariff on sugar. (See section "The United States and the World" in your textbook.)

11. How did the WCTU under the leadership of Frances Willard understand alcoholism?

Under the leadership of Frances Willard, the WCTU moved away from treating alcoholism as an individual moral failing and began viewing it as a disease rather than a sin and poverty as a cause rather than a result of drink. Accordingly, social action replaced prayer as women's response to the threat of drunkenness. (See section "Women's Activism" in your textbook.)

7. What happened after the General Managers Association (GMA) responded to the 1893 Pullman boycott by recruiting strikebreakers and firing switchmen who supported the strike?

When the GMA tried to discipline the protesting switchmen, it set off a chain reaction. Entire train crews walked off the job to show their support for the Pullman workers, and within days, rail lines across the nation were paralyzed. (See section "The Labor Wars" in your textbook.)